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Lifetime Work Hours and the Evolution of the Gender Wage Gap

Author

Listed:
  • Oksana Leukhina
  • Guillaume Vandenbroucke

Abstract

The gender wage gap expanded between 1940 and 1975 but narrowed sharply between 1980 and 1995. We use a human capital accumulation model introduced in Ben-Porath (1967) to assess the role of gender differences in life-cycle profiles of market time and occupation sorting in explaining the gender wage gap dynamics over the long run. Men’s aggregate hours profiles changed little across cohorts, but women’s profiles converged to those of men, and especially so in higher-paying occupations. We calibrate the model to wage data by age, year, gender and occupation, and find that changing time allocation patterns induced human capital investments that account for nearly all of the gender wage gap dynamics. Occupation-specific human capital rental rates played a small role in helping close the gender gap since 1980. The roles of cohort-specific endowments, however, were less pronounced.

Suggested Citation

  • Oksana Leukhina & Guillaume Vandenbroucke, 2022. "Lifetime Work Hours and the Evolution of the Gender Wage Gap," Working Papers 2022-025, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, revised 03 Feb 2025.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlwp:94804
    DOI: 10.20955/wp.2022.025
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark Huggett & Gustavo Ventura & Amir Yaron, 2011. "Sources of Lifetime Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(7), pages 2923-2954, December.
    2. Yoram Ben-Porath, 1967. "The Production of Human Capital and the Life Cycle of Earnings," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 75(4), pages 352-352.
    3. Orazio Attanasio & Hamish Low & Virginia Sánchez-Marcos, 2008. "Explaining Changes in Female Labor Supply in a Life-Cycle Model," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(4), pages 1517-1552, September.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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